The Flaw in the Plan
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: Alternate Universe. One-shot. Rose Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived, heads into the Forbidden Forest in 1998 to face Voldemort and her destiny. The problem is it turns out that Voldemort has a different idea of what it is to what she thought. Warning: Evil!Voldemort. Horror. Tragedy.


(Minor corrections, April 2013)

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Rating/identification reminder: This story is rated 'M'. It is identified as horror. Unpleasant things occur or are implied.

Note: The following is set in an alternate universe where 'Rose Potter' is 'The-Girl-Who-Lived'. Events otherwise largely played out as in canon until the summer of 1996, following which Voldemort's thoughts/actions with regard to Rose begin to stray from canon. This piece is concerned with how Rose Potter's encounter with Voldemort goes in the Forbidden Forest, and is (loosely speaking) equivalent to canon Harry's encounter in the chapter titled 'The Forest Again' in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_.

This story is a one-shot.

* * *

"Rose Potter: The Girl Who Lived." Voldemort said, his expression inscrutable.

Rose braced herself for what she knew what was about to happen as Voldemort cocked his head on its side and raised his wand. She just hoped that he would get this over with, before her terror could take control and she tried to run. She didn't know whether she could take it if he tried to Cruciatus Curse her, as he had when they'd met in the graveyard at the end of the tournament.

And that was all that Rose had time to think before the flash of monstrous blue light hit her.

_What the?_

And then she straightened, drew out her wand, walked forward, and knelt before Voldemort. Somewhere in a corner of her mind she was screaming that this had _not_ been the plan, but the rest of her didn't care, but just wanted to fulfil Voldemort's unspoken wishes.

She did notice that several of the Death Eaters around Voldemort looked as surprised at this turn of events as the tiny part of her that was independent was feeling.

Rose may well currently have her head bowed, but she noticed, nonetheless, that her lord and master was beginning to pace. Much of the doubt and tension he had recently exhibited was leaving him now.

"I have desired Rose Potter brought before me, alive and unharmed, these past eighteen months for one _very_ specific reason." Voldemort addressed his followers. "Ever since the battle in the department of mysteries, where dear Lucius failed to obtain the prophecy, I have nonetheless been considering what I _did_ know of it, and the strange connection which existed between myself and Rose Potter. For although she has fought it strenuously, at times, a connection did indeed exist between us, quite clearly, and I was so very nearly able to bend her to my will to strike down Albus Dumbledore in battle in the department. And Severus… Severus desired her apparently worthless muggle-born mother. That a wizard, as clever as he, was so fascinated by her mother that he once begged me to spare her for him was, in the context of everything else, enlightening. Clearly there was a squib somewhere in the ancestry of the witch who was born Lily Evans, and one from an important family – for why else would Severus desire her so much? And since, as we all know, Rose here is a parselmouth, it is a reasonable deduction from there as to her lineage being as exalted as my own, and sharing with me as a distant forebear the greatest wizard since Merlin himself, Salazar Slytherin. And the prophecy… The prophecy spoke of one who I would acknowledge as my equal. How could this be, in a child who knew less of magic than I had myself at the time I completed my OWLs? I reflected that my original conclusions were erroneous, and that Rose Potter was not to be a rival in terms of power or knowledge or skill, but that she was to be an 'equal' in the sense of being my destined future consort. It explained everything perfectly, including why my attempts to kill her, acting as I had been doing on imperfect information and assumptions derived therefrom, had met with little success. It explained why, as Ollivander informed me, she had a wand with a core which was the twin of my own. She herself must have belatedly come to realise or at least suspect in part this true state of affairs, and has been fighting it this past year, on the run from fate, but finally she has apparently come to her senses sufficiently to present herself to me to assume the position she was born to fill."

The tiny corner of Rose's mind that was not entire devotion to Voldemort's every desire was part-thinking how insane Voldemort was; part-frozen in terror at what might be to come; and part contemplating just what a mistake it had been to assume that she would turn up, Voldemort would kill her, and everything would be fine. She'd simply assumed every time she looked into his mind recently that his obsession with her and orders for her to be 'taken alive and unharmed' was so he could make a grand spectacle of finishing her off in front of his followers, personally. But at least since Professor Dumbledore's death, she'd never actually found Voldemort thinking or talking of _killing_ her on the few occasions she'd spied on him through their connection.

"Dolohov. You look doubtful." Voldemort paused in his monologue.

"She is but a half-blood, my Lord." Dolohov flinched at the sudden scrutiny he was under.

"She is a half-blood of the _noblest_ descent, prophesised as my bride." Voldemort said. "Albus Dumbledore himself tried to keep her from me for what has been now almost eighteen years, and successfully took the latter part of the prophecy concerning Rose with him to his grave because, no doubt, it would have clarified her role and the ultimate triumph of my own that she would ensure."

Rose felt Voldemort's will surging in her, and she rose to her feet and turned her wand on Dolohov.

"_Crucio_." she said, and she actually _meant_ it, given not only that Voldemort desired it, but the harm and pain she knew Dolohov had done and the very real hurts he had caused her friends.

Dolohov dropped instantly as if poleaxed, and writhed and screamed on the forest floor, as the other Death Eaters looked on. Rose caught a glimpse of Bellatrix, and saw _worry_ on her face that the Dark Lord had permitted Rose to lift a wand in his presence and to use an Unforgiveable Curse on one of his servants without gainsaying it.

Voldemort watched Dolohov for ten seconds, before raising an admonishing hand.

"Now, now, Rose. I'm sure that Antonin _understands_ now the wisdom of the prophecy, and that you are worthy of me – that in time you will become in every way every bit as valuable to the cause as those with more _immediate_ witches and wizards in their ancestry."

Reluctantly, Rose released the curse, and she could feel the weight and direction of Voldemort's rapid calculations, already expanding her imagined role. Given her capabilities, she could fill the role of punisher and executioner for his minions, whilst he could fill the role of benevolent lord.

"My… apologies for doubting this, my Lord… Miss Potter." Dolohov managed to get out between chattering teeth.

"Very courteous, Antonin." Voldemort said. "Now: I shall consummate my union with Miss Potter, taking her as my Lady in fact, and then we shall return to Hogwarts to dictate our terms to the castle and deal with any last resistance…"

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Author Notes:

The Voldemort in this universe doesn't understand what his connection with Rose Potter actually is; but, upon pondering the prophecy situation in the wake of the failed attempt to gain the prophecy in 1996 - and given that his 'adversary' (Rose) is female - he drew some new conclusions about it, twisting the facts he had at his disposal to suit his theory where possible, and blatantly ignored anything inconvenient which might not fit it. In his view, Rose's hunt for his Horcruxes was either some twisted way of her trying to get his attention, some kind of jealous/romantic gesture, or her way of trying to pretend that she can stop herself from ending up with him.

The flash of blue light of the spell this Voldemort uses on Rose is a variant of the Imperius Curse he developed, which plays on his connection with her. He may not understand that she has a piece of his soul stuck in her, but he's a mad genius and more than capable of inventing magic specifically for use on her which plays on the connection between them and which completely bypasses her demonstrated (usual) resistance to the Imperius Curse. He casts it wordlessly, since he's using it in front of minions he intends to keep from identifying exactly what he's doing (and how to cast it).

I doubt the short to mid-term of this universe is a happy one for anyone in wizarding Britain not on Voldemort's side. Voldemort's additional delay in the forest to 'consummate' his union means that the Death Eaters face the centaurs actually in the forest, in a separate battle, and defeat them there, before then moving on to Hogwarts where the defenders of Hogwarts face the huge blow to morale of seeing Rose standing at Voldemort's side. The Death Eaters/allies and Voldemort end up defeating their enemies piecemeal, rather than being caught between them in one big final battle. In addition there's the complication that Voldemort can't actually be permanently finished off (even if someone gets Nagini), as Hermione/Ron/Neville may imagine that he can be, precisely _because_ he never 'killed' Rose and therefore she still functions as an anchor for his soul.

I doubt Voldemort actually bothers to look around Rose's mind very much even though he in theory has the opportunity, as he essentially has what he wants of her (her as an obedient consort courtesy of his magic), and he's sufficiently convinced that his interpretation of the prophecy is the 'correct' one that he'll ignore anything anyone tries to say to him (possibly including from Hermione or Ron being interrogated) as 'disinformation' arranged by the late Albus Dumbledore to try and thwart him.

This story is a one-shot.


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